A makeshift memorial in Libreville for victims of violence in the wake of presidential elections in Gabon. ‘The unrest that has broken out reflects deep-seated popular anger.’
Photograph: Steve Jordan/AFP/Getty Images

The fight for democracy in Africa is, these days, centred on the tiny, oil-rich country of Gabon. It is not a new fight, by any means. In 2009, after the death of longtime leader Omar Bongo – who had ruled the former French colony for more than 40 years – riots broke out in several cities when it was announced that his son, Ali Bongo, was slated to become the next president. Opposition leaders called foul after presidential election results were announced, and they attempted to organise a nationwide strike. Now, seven years on, Ali Bongo has run up against a new, wider wave of protests, after he claimed he had won re-election, on 27 August, with a lead of just over 5,000 votes in a nation of 1.8 million. Street clashes with police led to several deaths. Opposition supporters set fire to the parliament building. Yet Mr Bongo remains defiant. He has accused his critics of attempting a coup and he has rejected calls for a recount of votes and even for election results to be published in detail. At one point he had his main opponent, Jean Ping, who says the election is being stolen, placed under house arrest. There were also government efforts to impose a media blackout, including by cutting off the internet. The situation on the streets has since eased, but tensions still run high in this central African country.

Gabon’s crisis is watched closely by France and neighbouring African states. France has a key military base as well as important economic interests in the region and has called for a recount, but it wants to be careful not to appear to meddle directly for fear of being accused of neocolonial reflexes. Whether outside mediation can help resolve a situation where two men, Mr Bongo and Mr Ping, both claim to be the legally elected president will now be put to the test: the African Union announced this week that it would send a delegation to Gabon.

None of this is made easier by the complex web of family ties that have long stood at the heart of Gabonese politics. Mr Ping, 73 years old, a former president of the African Union commission, was one of Omar Bongo’s closest and longest-serving ministers and married one of his daughters. He now describes Gabon as “a dictatorship pure and simple, run by a clan” – a “dynastic regime” that must be ended. But there is hardly any doubt that he has solid reasons to complain about vote manipulation. A mission of European Union observers said there were “obvious anomalies”. Mr Ping hopes international pressure will bear down on Mr Bongo, who clearly believes time is on his side because no external player is ready to consider anything like outright intervention.

Many of Gabon’s citizens certainly want its political course to change. Its population is poor and the economy has slumped with the fall of global oil prices. Families struggle for food day to day. Mr Bongo’s rule has been tainted by many allegations of corruption, not least the ownership of luxury cars and apartments in Paris. Gabon has only had three presidents since its independence in 1960. Mr Bongo, 57, may have tried to project the image of a younger leader, but his repressive methods are fast placing him in the same category as other strongmen who hang on to power as if mandates were for life. The unrest that has broken out reflects deep-seated popular anger. Gabon’s civil society, like those elsewhere in Africa, wants its voice to be heard, and democratic procedures to be respected. The votes should be recounted.